Article of footwear



April 6, 1937. D. w. WIGGIN 2,076,285

ARTICLE OF FOOTWEAR Filed May 18, 1955 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENT OR ATTORNE'YJ April D. w. WIGGIN 2,076,285

ARTICLE OF FOOTWEAR Filed May 18, 1955 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 2 IUTORNEYS Patented Apr. 6, 1937 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE Holder, Wiggin &

Folan, Inc., Yarmouth,

Maine, a corporation of Maine Application May 18, 1935, Serial No. 22,212

1 Claim.

This invention relates to footwear and to a method of making the same, and more specifically to shoes.

In general, it is an object of the invention to provide an article of the character described, which will efficiently perform the purposes for which it is intended, which is simple and economical of construction, which can be used with comfort and which can be readily manufactured and assembled, and to provide a method for making the same.

Another object of the invention is to provide a shoe which appears to be of the ordinary type but which has a layer of relatively soft leather beneath the foot; to provide a shoe, the upper of which forms a sleeve for the entire forward part of the foot; to provide such a sleeve-like upper which is smooth and unwrinkled along the bottom, sides and toe of the shoe.

Other objects of the invention will in part be obvious and will in part appear hereinafter. The invention accordingly comprises the several steps and the relation of one or more of such steps with respect to each of the others, and the article possessing the features, properties, and the relation of elements which are exemplified in the following detailed disclosure, and the scope of the application of which will be indicated in the claim.

For a fuller understanding of the nature and objects of the invention, reference should be had to the following detailed description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is a plan view of a shoe upper which embodies one form of the invention;

Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the upper shown in Fig. 1 after that upper has been folded together in the form of a sleeve;

Fig. 3 is a plan view of an upper arranged like the upper in Fig. 2, but seen from below and with a seam stitched from toe to heel;

Fig. 4 is a plan view seen from below of the upper shown in Fig. 2 after that upper has been placed on a last and lasted;

Fig. 5 is a plan view seen from below of the upper shown in Fig. 4 after that upper has been scoured;

Fig. 6 is a cross section in elevation of the upper shown in Fig. 5 with mid-sole and outer sole attached; and

Fig. 7 is a perspective view of a shoe made in accordance with the invention.

Heretofore there have been Indian slippers or moccasins formed from a piece of leather which acted as a cradle for the foot and which was sewn together in various designs on the top of the forepart of the foot. These not only had a peculiar, unelegant appearance, but since the stitching was in view, they required careful and expensive manufacture. The moccasin made no pretense to be smartly styled. The sides were gathered up, any excess cut off and a top piece added which was sewn to the top edge of the gathered sides.

The present invention contemplates a piece of footwear in which the foot is cradled in a sheath of relatively soft leather. The shoe, however, presents a neat, smart, conventional appearance and is lacking the element of the unfinished or unkempt which has hitherto been present in footwear of the kind described above. The upper is carried beyond the edges of the sole until the'edges of the upper meet on the underside of the shoe and form one of the layers of the sole. Those edges are in part sewn together and in part lasted. Other portions of the upper are removed and the holes, so caused. are removed by sewing the edges together. The final product gives the comfort of a moccasin or bed-room slipper with the formality of an ordinary walking shoe. The seam of the upper has been hidden under the foot. The soft sling to walk in has been retained but the puckering wrinkled appearance has been overcome.

in constructing the embodiment shown in the drawings, a blank piece of material l0, preferably flat, rather soft leather, is formed in the shape of an upper. Integral therewith there may, or may not, be the quarters II which form the rear of the shoe and which are joined together, by stitching or otherwise, along the edges l2. The blank Ill has more material along the sides of the vamp B, in the regions shown at it, than does the usual upper. This material in the regions 14 is eventually to be or fit on the underside of the wearers foot. There may, or may not, be similar regions l5 extending from the quarters II.

The blank I0 is folded so as to form a sleeve (see Fig. 2) with an opening approximately at each end. One opening is to remain to receive the foot as it is inserted into the shoe. The other is at the tip of the shoe and is closed before the shoe is completed. The side edges of the blank l0 are held together by suitable means, e. g., stitching, and form a seam it which extends from the toe as far back as the shank and, in some instances, as far as the back of the heel. The seam It may be anywhere under the foot, preferably along the center. It may reach to the tip of the toe. The'contour of the blank it may be such that when it is folded into a sleeve, there is a recess ill or in-- 5 dentation on each side of the seam and under the toe.

In folding the blank 8, fullness may appear under the ball of the foot. This difficulty may be remedied by cutting out part of the material and bringing the cut edges together. This may also be accomplished by removing a portion 88 from the edge of the blank in, the edges of which portion may be joined, for example, by stitching along the lines l9 and 20.

At a convenient time during the process and preferably after seam l6 has been stitched, a last is inserted into the sleeve-shaped upper. The material over the top of the forward portion is then smoothed over the last and gathered under the toe of the last as at 2| in Fig. 4.

The slit thus formed preferably is arcuately positioned around the forward end of seam l6. Should the parts l5 not be long enough to meet under the last, they may be left spaced as in Fig. 4. Y

The gathered portion 2|, under the toe, may be scoured down with suitable means such as an emery paper buffer wheel. Thereafter a. mid-sole 24 may be attached to the under side of the upper. This may be done by stitching, or cementing, etc. An outer sole 25 is attached to the mid-sole. This also may be accomplished by stitching around the edge.

Any desirable heel may be attached and any trimming may be added to the upper. There may be a'cap over the top of the shoe and the cap may be secured to the sides of the upper and brought over the toe of the shoe and gathered as at 2| A lining, preferably thin, may be in- 40 sertcd to lie inside the shoe over the parts It.

The final product is a piece of footwear whichsurrounds the foot with a sheath of soft leather like a sling. In walking with such a shoe there is all the ease and comfort of walking in a glove, the hard, board-like, outer sole giving a wearing surface, but not being directly against the foot. This is obtained together with a. sidewall structure which is smooth and unwrinkled and which, on the outside, gives the appearance of a. shoe of the ordinary type, and on the inside gives no creases and leaves a soft comfortable form for the foot.

Since certain changes in carrying out the above process, and certain modifications in the article which embody the invention may be made without departing from its scope, it is intended that all matter contained in the above description or shown in the accompanying drawings, shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

It is also to be understood that the following claim is intended to cover all of the generic and specific features of the invention herein described, and all statements of the scope of the invention which, as a matter of language, might be said to fall therebetween.

Having described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

A step product comprising a moccasin upper made from a one" piece blank having integral therewith a sole, the edges of the blank being seamed together at the approximate longitudinal center line of the sole, the said seam extending from slightly inwardly of the rear end of the sole to. slightly inwardly from the front end of the sole, and a single, narrow, forwardly slightly convex slit in the sole in front of the forward end of the seam whereby to permit.the toe portion of the upper in the finished moccasin to lie in gathered relation in front of the slit.

DANIEL W. WIGGIN. 

